🎵 EXCLUSIVE CHAT: Rob Thomas

The incredible Rob Thomas joins Jonesy & Amanda for a chat!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
My Heart podcasts here, more Gold one on one point
seven podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app. Jersey
and Amanda jam Nation.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Well there he was as frontman of Matchbox twenty. But
Rob Thomas is about to embark on a solo tour
and he joins us. Now, Hello, roll.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hey, it's so nice to talk to you from across
the miles.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, you know, I just think of how long I've
known you for as far as like, you know, just
in a professional sense. It was when I first met you,
Matchbox twenty had just come out with Long Day, and
everyone was just so excited about the song, and at
the time it was just such a great thing. And
then I look at us. We're still here, so that's
got to be a good thing.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
When you said me first man, and I said, oh,
it must be at least twenty years, But then you
reminded me it's been.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
It was almost thirty years ago.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, thirty years.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
You're about to tour here, but you're doing a solo
tour and new solo music. But you were here last
year with Matchbox twenty. How different is it to tour
without them?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
How does it?

Speaker 1 (01:10):
How different does it feel.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Honestly, the only real difference.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
I mean, those guys are such mates, Like they're my
best friends in the world, and we get closer every
year somehow, I think because we get older and little
things don't matter as much, so you don't fight about
stupid things and you kind of appreciate the relationship that
you have. And so the only difference is I mean,
you know, like it's my solo world is a whole
nother family. I've been with the same solo band sit
for twenty years, so like it's I go back and

(01:36):
forth into these you know, these very safe spaces that
make me feel great and creative and fun, and I
enjoy it, and it's like family members back and forth
Matchbox twenty, I think the only difference is.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
They know all the secrets about me.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Like my solo band, I got to get ten years
of pretending to be cool before I met them, But
Matchbox twenty knows they know the very very beginning.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
You're like one of those guys who has two families.
Do you have a stuff up and get the birthdays
wrong and you're lying to one about the other.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
I have been on the road before and like sent
a message to a Matchbox twenty group thread about like
how we how much we killed it tonight, and then
Paul will right back and he's like, yeah, no.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Wrong, one wrong. No, it's not like they don't know
that would be awkward.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, yeah, I was looking at just at home. Is
it kind of like when Mick Jagger used to womanize
all the time and Jerry Hall said, look, just do
it discreetly, don't don't rub my face in it, And
then Mick could come home with a baby produced by
a Brazilian supermodel.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Oh my god, it's exactly like that. I remember that's time,
that time that Paul came home with the Brazilian.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Wrong thread. Tell us about the new album. What's inspired
the songs?

Speaker 4 (02:50):
I mean, I think at this point everything is like
a tapestry right over the last thirty years. So if
I put out a record, it's not so much anymore
of like, oh this is my record about this. It's
more just like, this is the best eleven or twelve song.
I finally put together eleven or twelve songs and I
think should be heard because I all the time. So

(03:11):
I've written three records since I've put out a record,
and these are the ones that I that I think
are are finally good enough that to put together in
too make a record.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's just great to see you back because I've been
longing for rock to come back. There was a sweet
spot that was so exciting back in nineteen ninety seven
or ninety six, when you know, as I said before,
when Long Day came out, and there's a whole raft
of these great rock indie rock bands, and I just
feel that we've been missing it for some time. So
I like that you'll.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
You're not gonna lie Jonesy like, I'm not sure how
much rock I feel like, you know, And when we
started out, we were a young rock like alternative band,
playing like college stations and making these kind of angsty,
angry rock records. And you know, thirty years later, we're
not as angry as we used to be, and and
I think, you know, like it's not it's not healthy

(04:02):
if we were, and so I think, you know, now
it's you know, we try to write really good songs.
There's a couple of those moments where I see, like
of the first record, really kind of lean in and
be like, oh, I like this song.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
I like this song because it has that a little
bit of that grit.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
But uh, you know, I love rock music, but it
doesn't it won't serve me well and it'll be disingenuous
if I tried to make sure that I rocked really
hard every time I wrote a song, because that's not
where I'm at all the time.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Actually, Ken aid you as well. I was listening to Kiss,
I watched Kiss, and I performed Christine sixteen and I went, guys,
I think you gotta drop that song from your repertoire.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Well what have you guys been doing, because you guys
look like you haven't aged one day at all.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
We have Lino filters in front.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Of You've got Simon Cal's botox.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
We smell a for Meldehi. Robert, there's a painting somewhere
in your.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Robert's always great to catch up to you. Here's to
the next twenty eight years. For tickets and tour information,
head to ticket tech dot com dot au The All
Night Days Tour It's happening, Rob Thomas, thank you for
joining us.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
The main thing is I just.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Want to say you have to check out the idea
you that of anything that I do, live music has
always been the end goal for it.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
You make records so you can play them live.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
I've Matchbox twenty and my solo band we become the
best live bands.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
There are out there.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
So I want everybody to come with their joy intact
because that's what it's about.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Like every show is about us sharing a.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
Moment with every night that we have it because it's
our night too and we want to enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
And so I just want everybody to come ready for
joy and to have a good time.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
We'll see that and be careful of you WhatsApp groups.
Don't cross the streams

Speaker 3 (05:43):
All right, guys, Well, thank you, thank